GENEVA: A halt to US funding for Gavi, an organization that vaccinates children in the world’s poorest countries, will leave a dangerous gap threatening the lives of millions, its chief warned on Monday.
“The first impact would be for the most vulnerable children of the world,” Gavi chief executive Sania Nishtar told AFP.
She spoke via video link from Washington, during a visit to try to convince US authorities that their 25-year collaboration with the Geneva-based organization must continue.
The New York Times broke the news last week that President Donald Trump’s administration, which has been aggressively slashing foreign aid, aims to cut all funding to Gavi.
That step featured in a 281-page spreadsheet related to cuts to USAID that was sent to the US Congress.
The decision would impact about 14 percent of Gavi’s core budget — and came just days after the Congress had approved $300 million in funding for the organization.
“I was very, very surprised,” Nishtar said, adding that her organization still had received no official termination notice from the US government.
The medical doctor and former minister and senator in Pakistan said: “Gavi was supported by the previous Trump administration. We had a very good relationship.”
If the cuts go ahead, Nishtar warned it would have devastating effects.
“Frankly, this is too big a hole to be filled,” Nishtar warned, even as Gavi scrambled to find donors to offset the missing US funding.
“Something will have to be cut.”
Gavi says it helps vaccinate more than half the world’s children against infectious diseases including COVID-19, Ebola, malaria, rabies, polio, cholera, tuberculosis (TB), typhoid and yellow fever.
Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has provided vaccines to more than 1.1 billion children in 78 lower-income countries, “preventing more than 18.8 million future deaths,” it says.
Before the US decision, the organization has a goal of vaccinating 500 million more children between 2026 to 2030.
The US contribution is directly responsible for funding 75 million of those vaccinations, Nishtar said.
Without them, “around 1.3 million children will die from vaccine-preventable diseases.”
Beyond Gavi’s core immunization programs, the funding cut would jeopardize the stockpiling and roll-out of vaccines against outbreaks and in health emergencies, including for Ebola, cholera and mpox.
“The world’s ability to protect itself against outbreaks and health emergencies will be compromised,” Nishtar said.
During her Washington visit, the Gavi chief said she aimed to show how effective funding has been so far for her organization.
For every $1 spent on vaccinations in developing countries where Gavi operates, $21 will be saved this decade in “health care costs, lost wages and lost productivity from illness and death,” the vaccine group estimates.
Unlike other organizations facing cuts, Gavi has not received an outsized contribution from Washington toward its budget, Nishtar noted, insisting that the US contribution was proportionate to its share of the global economy.
Other donors were paying their “fair share,” while recipient countries also pitch in and are provided with a path to transition away from receiving aid, she said.
Some former recipients, like Indonesia, had even become donors to the program, she pointed out, voicing hope that such arguments would help sway Washington to decide to stay the course.
Without the US backing, “we will have to make difficult trade-offs,” Nishtar warned.
That “will leave us all more exposed.”

PESHAWAR: In the days leading up to the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, Rafi Ullah Safi is especially busy at his shop in Peshawar city’s historic Qissa Khwani Bazaar as customers arrive from across the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and beyond to order his Degi Chargha: a steamed chicken roast prepared in a secret marinade of 21 spices.
Safi’s father concocted the recipe over five decades ago and since then, the marination has become the stuff of legend, with orders spiking ahead of Eid and over the three days of the holiday as people buy the roast to serve at home or present as a gift to relatives and friends.
“The night before Eid day, we sit here till morning. There is a rush in the bazaar, people buy dresses and shoes, and some buy sweets and chicken,” Safi told Arab News as he packed an order for a customer.

“We offer the morning prayer here [in Qissa Khwani Bazaar] and then go home. Then we offer the Eid congregation [the next morning] and people start calling us soon after to come to the shop to serve them Degi Chargha even on Eid day.”
Despite the roast’s popularity, the exact spices that go into the mix are only known to the family.
“All the ingredients are kept secret,” Safi said. “My father started the business and my elder brothers handled it when I was young. Then I joined in, and now my children are also working here.”
He said the recipe, passed down from his father to elder brothers and now him, was being learnt by his children.
“First, we take yoghurt and blend it properly, after which we put the 21 spices mix, ketchup, lemon and other things,” Safi said. “We also add some of the spices bought from the bazaar, which make our special mixture of spices stronger and sourer.”

The spices are mixed in the yogurt with an electric churner for almost half an hour until the color changes to red, Safi explained. The mixture is prepared at his home early every morning before being brought to the shop.
The chicken meanwhile is deep fried in oil and then cooled for 30 minutes before being soaked in the spice and yogurt marinade.
“The chicken is dipped in the special spices and then placed in the steam pot, which is placed over boiling water for 20-30 minutes. Then the Degi Chargha is ready,” said Safi.
One full chicken retails for around $5 a piece.

“The price is higher than usual roasts because of the specialty and uniqueness of the chicken,” Safi said.
Hammad Khan, a 22-year-old customer, said social media viral videos had increased the popularity of the Degi Chargha.
“Many food vloggers have made videos motivating others to come and taste it. That’s why I have come here to buy and check the taste of this chicken,” he said.
Another customer Hamza Khan, a resident of Peshawar’s Saddar Bazaar, also said he had discovered Degi Chargha through TikTok. 
“I saw a video of this shop so we thought to go and give it a try,” he said. “The specialty was the spices added to the chicken. It enhances the taste. My experience was good.”